Cyclodextrins are cyclic polysaccharides containing naturally occurring D(+)-glucopyranose units in an α-(1,4) linkage. The most common cyclodextrins are alpha (α)-cyclodextrins, beta (β)-cyclodextrins and gamma (γ)-cyclodextrins which contain, respectively, six, seven or eight glucopyranose units. Structurally, the cyclic nature of a cyclodextrin forms a torus or donut-like shape having an inner apolar or hydrophobic cavity, the secondary hydroxyl groups situated on one side of the cyclodextrin torus and the primary hydroxyl groups situated on the other. Thus, using (β)-cyclodextrin as an example, a cyclodextrin is often represented schematically as follows: The side on which the secondary hydroxyl groups are located has a wider diameter than the side on which the primary hydroxyl groups are located. The hydrophobic nature of the cyclodextrin inner cavity allows for the inclusion of a variety of compounds. (Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry, Volume 3, J. L. Atwood et al., eds., Pergamon Press (1996); T. Cserhati, Analytical Biochemistry, 225:328–332 (1995); Husain et al., Applied Spectroscopy, 46:652–658 (1992); FR 2 665 169).
Cyclodextrins have been used as a delivery vehicle of various therapeutic compounds by forming inclusion complexes with various drugs that can fit into the hydrophobic cavity of the cyclodextrin or by forming non-covalent association complexes with other biologically active molecules such as oligonucleotides and derivatives thereof. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,064 describes pharmaceutical preparations consisting of a drug with substantially low water solubility and an amorphous, water-soluble cyclodextrin-based mixture. The drug forms an inclusion complex with the cyclodextrins of the mixture. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,316, a cyclodextrin cellular delivery system for oligonucleotides is described. In such a system, an oligonucleotide is noncovalently complexed with a cyclodextrin or, alternatively, the oligonucleotide may be covalently bound to adamantane which in turn is non-covalently associated with a cyclodextrin.
Various cyclodextrin containing polymers and methods of their preparation are also known in the art. (Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry, Volume 3, J. L. Atwood et al., eds., Pergamon Press (1996)). A process for producing a polymer containing immobilized cyclodextrin is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,015. According to the process, a cyclodextrin derivative is reacted with either an acid halide monomer of an α,β-unsaturated acid or derivative thereof or with an α,β-unsaturated acid or derivative thereof having a terminal isocyanate group or a derivative thereof. The cyclodextrin derivative is obtained by reacting cyclodextrin with such compounds as carbonyl halides and acid anhydrides. The resulting polymer contains cyclodextrin units as side chains off a linear polymer main chain.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,088 describes a method of synthesizing cyclodextrin polymers by either reacting polyvinyl alcohol or cellulose or derivatives thereof with cyclodextrin derivatives or by copolymerization of a cyclodextrin derivative with vinyl acetate or methyl methacrylate. Again, the resulting cyclodextrin polymer contains a cyclodextrin moiety as a pendant moiety off the main chain of the polymer.
A biodegradable medicinal polymer assembly with supermolecular structure is described in WO 96/09073 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,900. The assembly comprises a number of drug-carrying cyclic compounds prepared by binding a drug to an α, β, or γ-cyclodextrin and then stringing the drug/cyclodextrin compounds along a linear polymer with the biodegradable moieties bound to both ends of the polymer. Such an assembly is reportably capable of releasing a drug in response to a specific biodegradation occurring in a disease. These assemblies are commonly referred to as “necklace-type” cyclodextrin polymers.
However, there exists a need in the art for a more effective non-viral delivery systems exhibiting properties such as, for example, increased stability (e.g. under physiological conditions) and effective targeting abilities. This invention answers such a need.